Why Union??

* A Union belongs to its members:
The Union is not a corporation and the members are not stockholders. Union members elect our leaders and we have a say in how the organization operates. Every member has the right and the opportunity to participate. We have regular membership meetings where any member can express his/her views on items raised at the meetings.

* A Union provides workers with a voice on the job:
The boss isn't always fair; the boss isn't always smart. Our Union is our means to address fairness issues in the workplace. Through Union stewards (members on the job who have been chosen by their coworkers to be the Union's representative in the workplace), Union staff, or individually, each worker has the legal right to speak out for himself or his fellow workers on issues that effect us at work.

* A Union contract sets out both the workers' and the boss' rights and responsibilities in the workplace:
If the boss violates a person's rights under the contract, we have the opportunity to use the process set up under the contract (known as the grievance procedure) to correct the violation. Having a Union also enables workers to address issues at work through other means: setting up meetings with supervisors, circulating petitions in support of a coworker or against a work policy that folks think is unfair.

* Through the collective bargaining process, a Union helps workers that the Union represents get a decent wage and benefits package:
Wages and benefits such as health insurance, paid holidays, and vacations are not simply given to us by the employer. Union and employer representatives sit down and negotiate for wages and benefits as part of the overall contract negotiation process.

* Through the Union contract, we have a greater degree of job security than folks who work in a non-Union workplace:
Once a worker makes it through the probationary period, the worker has seniority rights. Seniority rights are a check against the boss' ability to play favorites and to discipline unfairly. Again, not every boss tries to pit workers against on another, but those that do have a harder time of it due to seniority language in the contract. For example, a worker with seniority cannot be fired for poor work performance until he/she has been informed as to what improvement he/she has to make, and been given opportunity to make those improvements.

* For those of you who may be working after school jobs for spending money to help out with their families, here's a very important point:
You may be making just a little more than minimum wage right now, but please keep two things in mind. First of all, a union insures that cost of living raises kick in at different times during the duration of the contract. These raises are guaranteed - the boss can't change his mind about them. Secondly, Unions are responsible for the fact that your wage is "slightly above the minimum wage" rate of pay is as high as it is. In 1996, the voters in Oregon passed a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage. It is now $6.50 per hour. The Unions in Oregon led the effort to qualify the measure and get it passed. If you work in a state where Unions or another group haven't worked to raise the minimum wage, your "slightly above minimum wage" pay would be less than $6.00 per hour since the minimum wage in most states is only $5.15 per hour.